Apex Merchant Group Review

Apex Merchant Group
Overall Score
1
full star empty star empty star empty star empty star

Would you recommend them?

UPDATED 2/5/19: The Apex Merchant Group website (apexmg.net) is not currently active and appears to have been inactive since late 2015. It appears that Apex has been absorbed into another entity under the First American Payment Systems umbrella. According to multiple comments beneath this review, Andrew Frankel is now running Certified Payment Processing as well as its subsidiary businesses, Axis Payments and Intrepid Payment Processing. This is confirmed by a press release from Intrepid. If you have any additional knowledge of the company’s fate, please share that information in the comment section below.

Apex Merchant Group (apexmg.net) is a merchant account provider based in Plano, Texas, and the company looks to have been established in 2008 or 2009. Apex Merchant Group is a reseller of First American Payment Systems contracts, making it a member of the First American ISO network that appears to consist of the following companies: Appstar Financial, Eliot Management Group, Trans Tech Merchant Group, Summit Merchant Solutions, and Certified Payment Processing. Apex Merchant Group is an ISO/MSP of Fifth Third Bank, Cincinnati, Ohio. The company’s corporate headquarters is located at 6652 Pinecrest Dr., Suite #400, Plano, Texas 75024.

On October 15, 2014, the Attorney General of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against Apex Merchant Group alleging that the company fraudulently altered contract terms and used “bait and switch” tactics to trick merchants into paying higher rates than they had initially agreed to. The lawsuit was settled in March 2015. Per the settlement’s conditions, Apex paid a settlement sum of $550,000. In addition, Apex, Andrew Frankel, and Arthur Banks agreed to abstain from selling merchant services in the state of Minnesota for six years and to release existing Minnesota Apex merchants from their contracts without cancellation penalties.

The CEO of Apex Merchant Group, Andrew Frankel, is the brother of Craig Frankel. Craig and Jonathan Frankel formerly served as officers and directors of Certified Merchant Services, which was the subject of an FTC complaint in 2002. In that complaint, Certified Merchant Services was accused of modifying customer contracts, debiting accounts without authorization, misrepresenting the goods and services offered by the company, and failing to disclose various fees. Certified Merchant Services settled that complaint for $23.5 million. According to the Attorney General of the State of Minnesota, Craig Frankel is an investor in Apex Merchant Group.

Following the FTC litigation and the subsequent sale of Certified Merchant Services, Craig Frankel released a book and served as the executive producer of a film titled Chasing the Green, which tells the story of “two young brothers who become millionaires during the early 1990s. Their ambition and drive lead them into conflict with FTC officials, where an over-zealous bureaucrat attempts to destroy their company.” The Amazon book description also states that the brothers in the story (the “Franklins”) “were confident and bold, and thus ignored warnings by the government to ‘respond’ to numerous complaints regarding their practices. Ultimately, they were nearly destroyed by the FTC, who sought to demolish their company at the behest of their competitors in the industry.” This version of events—in which two reckless, money-hungry brothers fall victim to unreasonable federal regulators acting at the urging of jealous rivals—suggests a great deal about how Craig Frankel interprets his actions, his brother’s actions, and the FTC’s actions.

Chasing the Green Trailer

Apex Merchant Group Customer Reviews

Customer Reviews Summary
Total Online Complaints 120+
Live Customer Support Yes
Most Common Complaint Hidden Fees

We are currently able to locate over 120 Apex Merchant Group complaints, many of which describe the company as a ripoff or a scam. This is a high number of complaints for a provider of its size and time in business, and these complaints come from both former agents and merchant customers. Agents mostly report misleading job opportunities that promise great pay and high-quality appointments set by the company. However, most of these complaints state that the appointments are usually of poor quality and that merchants often are not expecting their arrival. Due to this, several agents reported costs in travel that were never recovered because they were unable to complete sales at their appointments.

Merchant complaints primarily consist of reports of unauthorized debits from checking accounts, deceptive sales tactics by agents, “hidden” fees, poor customer service, difficulty closing accounts, and nondisclosure of important fees, terms, and conditions prior to an agent setting up an account.

Apex Merchant Group Customer Satisfaction Ratings

Online Ratings Summary
Product & Service Complaints 72
Billing & Collection Complaints 33
Advertising & Sales Complaints 20
Guarantee & Warranty Complaints 0
Delivery Complaints 0

As of this review, the Better Business Bureau is reporting a “F” rating for Apex Merchant Group based on 125 complaints filed in the last 36 months. Of the total, 72 are regarding problems with products and services, 33 with advertising and sales issues, and 20 with billing and collection disputes. Apex has resolved 23 of the complaints to the merchant’s satisfaction, while 76 if complaints either were resolved to the merchant’s dissatisfaction or did not receive a final response from the merchant. Another 25 complaints didn’t receive a good faith response from Apex, and one complaint went completely unaddressed. The BBB also notes the government action against the company. We see no reason to adjust the BBB’s grade at this time.

Apex Merchant Group Fees, Rates & Contract

Rates & Fees Summary
Swiped Rate Variable
Keyed-in Rate Variable
Early Termination Fee $495
PCI Compliance Fee $125 Per Year
Equipment Lease Terms Variable

The total cost of an Apex merchant account will likely vary based on a merchant’s business type and the agent setting up the account. Numerous merchants indicate that agents often overprice the rates and fees and that the accounts often end up more expensive than what merchants were quoted. In addition, the company charges an annual PCI Compliance fee of $125.

Apex’s standard contract (available below) includes a three-year service agreement with automatic renewal for one-year terms, an Early Termination Fee (ETF) of $495 or more, a $95 annual fee, and an unlisted monthly minimum fee. These fees are automatically debited from merchants’ attached checking accounts. Merchants who choose to lease equipment may be subject to additional fees and conditions, including non-cancellable long-term leases. See the Apex Merchant Group Terms & Conditions.

Apex Merchant Group Employee Reviews & Sales Practices

Jobs & Marketing Summary
Employs Independent Resellers Yes
Advertises Deceptive Rates No
Discloses All Important Terms No

Apex appears to rely primarily on recruiting and hiring independently contracted agents to market and sell its financial services as well as “appointment setting” via telephone. Based on several reports, many of these agents engage in telemarketing and door-to-door sales. Numerous complaints suggest that agents receive poor training regarding the terms and conditions of Apex’s merchant account agreement and that commissions are tied to the cost of the merchant account. This means that the more expensive the rates and fees are set for the merchant during the setup process, the larger the commission the agent receives.

At minimum, it is apparent that the company has a lack of oversight of its agents as evidenced by the plentiful reports of deceptive sales tactics. At worst, the claims by the Minnesota Attorney General’s office suggest that some Apex agents have intentionally altered contract terms and used bait-and-switch methods to trick merchants into signing unfavorable contracts. Additionally, Apex appears to often enforce predatory agreements even when the merchant claims that an agent lied about its conditions or failed to verbally disclose them.

Apex Merchant Group Review Summary

Apex Merchant Group rates as a substandard merchant account provider by almost every available metric. The company appears to follow an “agent hiring mill” recruiting strategy for marketing its services. This strategy seems to lead to high turnover and a constant stream of rookie agents who appear to receive poor training, are focused on high commissions, and have insufficient oversight from Apex management. Apex can improve its score by removing undesirable terms and conditions from its merchant account agreement and eliminating complaints from its agents and merchant customers.

Top Performing Apex Merchant Group Competitors

Host Merchant Services logo

HMS

Average Rate

1.82% + $0.20

Pricing Details
Helcim logo

Helcim

Average Rate

1.83% + $0.18

Pricing Details
CDG logo

CDG

Average Rate

1.83% + $0.16

Pricing Details

Please note that we only suggest providers that adhere to strict ethical standards and offer top performing support at extremely competitive pricing. We may earn revenue if choose one of our recommendations.

Reader Comments, Testimonials & Complaints

119 User Reviews

  • Cyndi

    Do NOT use this company or any company associated with it. I canceled my account, doing exactly what they told me (fax), and they continued to charge my bank account monthly for years. I did not know who was charging my account because it was under a different name on my ACH, with no phone number. I talked to my bank on a number of occasions. They finally traced it down. I talked to the company again and they said they were closing down the account. I did what they said. They never mentioned a fee to close the account. Then, they charged me $495 closure fee via ACH that I never agreed to- after YEARS of fraudulently charging my bank account.. Then, when my bank reversed that charge to my account, I got a phone call from “Crystal” at 404-483-5492, She started screaming at me when I was trying to explain why I was not going to pay the fee and refused to even let me talk. I am a *very polite* person, but she was so rude and acted in such a demeaning manner towards me that I eventually had to tell her to shut up. She hung up on me and told me to call back when *I* was calm. She was the one that escalated matters. She was unbelievable. I called back to try to talk to her and she started screaming at me again and refused to let me talk. I did let her know that my attorney will be sending a certified letter and seeking my money back that was fraudulently charged. I am not paying the fee. I will fill a complaint with my State’s AG office and my attorney. I am busy and my husband has advanced cancer. But, this company’s behavior is so egregious that I will spend my precious time doing this because they need to be thoroughly investigated for fraud.

  • Stacey Lucas

    DO NOT Go with this company. They are a total rip off. Every month there are fees that you don’t understand. You work out a deal with them and in a couple months, new charges appear. The 1.5% or 1.75% rate you are promised NEVER happens and I MEAN never!! Go with Square, so much simpler and easier and faster to boot.
    You can never talk to anyone who can change anything. My final bill, for the last month was $62.07 and I processed 0 credit cards. And NO ONE can give me a credit for it!
    Don’t be mislead into thinking that all these charges are just a part of doing business and the cost of accepting credit cards.


    This post will help: Find and Eliminate Hidden Fees From Your Monthly Bill

  • Pitstop auto shop

    Apex Merchant Group is the worst credit card processing company in this earth, the were accessing my accounts periodically and charged me unrecognized fees. Anytime I called them , the staff who answered the phone provided me with different rationals and excuses. Finally, I sold my business and asked them to terminate their services, however, after 24 hours I found that they charged me $495, and $ 100 extra charge for credit card fees which I have no clue about it. I called Apex accounts mangers and corporate office complaining about unauthorized access to my bank account. After so many calls finally I got hold of a guy by the name of Sunny, he told me that these fees are termination fees for my contract which they (not me) automatically renewed. After a long discussion, I told him I am going to dispute the money which they took from my bank account without my permission. He lost his mind, and start to threatened me and never let me say anything, went on and on like crazy person. I would like to sue this company, I wonder where is our government or business regulations to check such robberies and let such people stealing from innocent citizens.

    • Nicole

      The reason they do an auto renewal is because if they didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to take credit cards at the end of your contract. If they just stopped processing your cards, you would be upset about that as well. If you send in a cancelation letter, they will no longer deduct any fees from your account. The $100 was if you had debit services, which is in the contract as well. Sorry for your inconvenience, but this company is actually wonderful.

      • Owner

        Baybeeluv Boutique

        Nicole, you are an idiot. You understand ZERO about how these agreements work, nor do you understand Visa/Mastercard Rules and Regulations. Stop trying to justify the unethical maneuvers of this processor. APEX is obviously another greedy unethical card processing company that intentionally lies to merchants and robs them blind. You don’t get an ‘F’ rating with the BBB for being a ‘wonderful’ company.

  • Don't want to say

    To let everyone know… First American bought out Apex after the attorney general sued them and kicked them out of MN for fraud. They merged Apexs portfolio into Certified Payment Processing and yes Andy Frankel is running the company. John Frankel has also started a company as well not sure in the name. Andy Frankel is gauging customers on rates and fees. They are hidden all in the contracts. They also launched two new DBAs under CPP Axis and Intrepid. If you see these run! Before you swipe a card you have $58 in fees! Look in the app if you don’t believe me. I would hope any buissness with CPP would sue and leave we need the Texas A.G. To shut them down. Also first America hired Andy they are no better the hired a man who sexually harassed his employees, been kicked out of MN, Helped run CMS ( former name of CPP) that was shut down by the FTC. Seriously what are they thinking?! Hope this helps people out.

    Former employee


    Are you with Apex? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

    • Nicole DeBiaso

      It’s a shame that, as a former disgruntled employee, you would take to social media to exaggerate your opinion over a company that deemed you not honest enough to continue your employment. I have worked for this company for almost 5 years, from the time they were Apex, until now. Andy Frankel has not only mentored me into becoming a great sales person, but also an honest one. As the owner of Apex and now President of CPP, he continues to be available to help all employees at any given time, whether it’s an outside sales rep or an internal employee.

      As far as the incident in MN, there was one bad rep who misled a few merchants, and not only is he no longer working for the company, but his situation is being handled appropriately according to his actions. And because we are an honest company, we did not allow this to continue. And remember, Apex was only the sales office, so if FAPS proceeded with the application, they were obviously fooled by this lying rep as well. Therefore, this rep was in no way a direct reflection of Apex.

      FAPS bought Apex because Apex was a company driven to not only take care of their employees, but retain such a high level of merchant accounts, making them one of those most profitable credit card processing companies in the nation. Personally, I retain 90% of my accounts, as 10% close down due to the economy or sell their business. It wouldn’t even make sense for FAPS to buy a company that was viewed as being dishonest. They bought a company they wanted to mimic for its outstanding reputation and honest employees.

      And as far as the fees, every app of every company starts the same. It’s a base for the rep and these are all fees the company encounters to obtain a merchant account. It is up to the rep to waive or reduce any fees as necessary, depending on the type of business and volume. The rep’s commission is directly affected by the app they turn in so if you continued to see high fees, then maybe you should have trained your reps to not be so greedy and give better deals?

      I will continue to work for an honest and integrous company for as long as they are in business. A company that not only treats me with respect and trains me to take care of my merchants, but genuinely cares about me as well.

    • Current Employee

      To disgruntled former employee,

      Based on your history and track record at CPP, it doesn’t surprise me to see you attempt to slander us in a public forum.

      I feel obligated to try and make some sense out of your attempt to defame CPP. Yes, First American bought Apex in early 2015. First American acquired Apex because of the healthy portfolio they had built over 6+ years. The reason First American put Andy Frankel at the helm of CPP was to “right the ship.” Andy’s leadership and character were on full display when he deployed policies and procedures that would end unhealthy business practices and get the ship heading in the right direction.

      Apex and MN. There was a single rep that wrote some deals where he mislead the customer. Unfortunately, our confirmation and QA process didn’t catch those deals. One salesperson’s bad decisions do not reflect the rest of the honest, hard working employees at Apex. We will continue to mold CPP into a very healthy, employee friendly environment as we move forward. Unfortunately, during the transformation process, a few employees refused to conform to the transparent way of selling and decided to move on.

      Best of luck,

      Current Employee

    • Keith

      Dear Merimac and First American Payment Systems,
      Ever think of why you only have 352 people liking your page? I HAD a small business in a little town in DE that had twice as many as your national / global company. Its because you have a horribly over prices product and the worst customer support in the business. I am no longer in business and I returned my equipment yet you want the lease payment no matter what. You have no interest in helping anyone. No desire to work with anyone.The reason I even got their product is because they said BY LAW I needed a chip reader CC machine. At the time they upsold me I had a machine that was free. Since I received the machine I NEVER had a single customer with a chipped card. They lie to you to get you roped in and then they just take take take. THIS IS NOT A CUSTOMER FRIENDLY BUSINESS. Stay away. They want another 2 YEARS of payments no questions asked. I even switched to MerchantOne to process my cards the last 6 months so they will no longer receive any cut of what I made. They GAVE me the equipment FOR FREE and no contract. When I closed my doors I returned their machine NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Dont sign anything from this company. If you do you WILL be sorry.


      Are you with Apex Merchant Group? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

      • Keith DeFrance

        Buyer BEWARE this company care NOTHING ABOUT YOU. I have gone OUT OF BUSINESS and they continue to steal money from my account. They care nothing about people and just want money even though they do NOTHING. Between them and their lease with Merimac Capital SUX that does the same exact thing and takes money when you go OUT OF BUSINESS they have no ethics and continue to charge you even though you have no income. If you account is overdrawn because you are OUT OF BUSINESS they continue to hit your account raking up charges on that account. There are places and companies out there like merchant one who GIVE you free equipment and charge less per month and work month to month not rope you into a 3 year contract that automatically renews without consent. STAY AWAY from these two companies they dont care about anything but taking your money for doing absolutely NOTHING.

  • melissa

    My pay first wedge has never worked consistently since I went wireless. many…. many calls to the hotline have resulted in the wedge working one day/minute…and not the next. The company has you bullied into a contract, yet YOU are the one who has to make all the calls and effort to make their product work. No business owner should have to inconvenience a client by asking them to send a check back through the mail because you could not help them!!!! I would never recommend this system, or this company.


    Are you with Apex? Learn how to resolve this complaint.

  • Nicole

    I’ve been working for this company for 3 years! I knew nothing about sales going into this job, but my team leader guided me and coached me into learning the product and how to help merchants. I still remember him telling me, “It’s all about longevity. Our goal is to work together to help merchants save money and keep a long-term, positive relationship with them for the life of their business.” This has stayed in my head for 3 years and that is my motivation for helping merchants every day. Another positive aspect is how well Apex takes care of their employees. My team leader always makes it clear what my commission will be with each sale and they also pay their employees to ensure the happiness of the merchants. I love the fact that I have several qualified appointments every day and most of the merchants know my name when I arrive. I stay very busy due to the daily referrals I receive from current merchants. This is the best job I’ve ever had and as a single mother, it has allowed me to live a financially free life by simply helping merchants!

  • Rick

    This Company Apex Are really a bunch of Rude LIARS and thieves. They told me it was $7.00 per mo. plus 1.65%
    and the first of the month they charged $54.00 so I called them, and they said that their were additional Fees. Then they proceeded to say , well we can discount it to $40.00 per month. I go to my bank and explained I wanted to close my account, so then the bright bank Guy tells me ” Oh you don’t have to do that we can block your account so they can’t take money out of your account for a year, I say well OK. So I check my bank account and to my surprise wow
    I am $900.00 overdrawn and my $247.00 is gone Yeah I told them I wanted to send the machine back and they said I will send you a label so I didn’t want to pay to ship it. when I received the label I sent the machine back, then they tell my bank that I only had 7 days to return it.and charged me 499.00 no way did that machine cost that. now my bank closed my account and reported me to Chex system and now I can’t even open a new bank Acc. Then the guy that Sold me the Machine came by, and said he had no Idea that they did that, and told me that they never got any Commission because he waived the early termination Fee. don’t even think of giving these your business.

  • Tim

    Buyer BEWARE, I have a long story, but the short of it my 3 yr agreement is done on Feb 1, 2014 and my company is closed as of Dec. 31,2013. Called APEX to close my merchant account and was told that a $ 495.00 early term fee applied to pay or be turned into collections. I stated: that I did not want to close my account until Feb 1,2014 so that I would not be charged the early term fee. I was told that because I didn’t give APEX 30-90 days written notice that it didn’t matter. I stated: that that was not possible because of the company closure date and the agreement anniversary was too close together. I stated: what does it matter, my company is closing and being dissolved. APEX didn’t care so they are going to send me to collections.I have been a loyal customer with APEX for 3 years sorry to say. I was mis-lead by the salesman or the company when I signed up 3 years ago, no one wants to take blame. I was told since I was already PCI compliant that my yearly fees would be waived, well that wasn’t the case and I lost that argument. Point is, I could go on and on about the company. If you have issues file a complaint with the Dallas Texas based BBB.

  • L Perrault

    They are a scam they do not pay the sales people what they say if they pay you at all. I worked for them for a month and got paid 150.00 total for 5 sales. what a scam as it was to be 250.00 for each sale. I sold them all in the first week and than did not work till they paid me which never happened. Anyone going to work for this company is crazy.

    • Nicole

      I’ve been with this company for 3 years and I’ve never had any problems getting paid. It’s unfortunate that you misunderstood you would be paid $250 each sale, as the amount of each sale varies depending on many factors. They also make it clear that we are not paid on the account until the merchant sets up their equipment with us. It sounds as if the actual sale was not complete in your case. They’re not perfect, but who is? The important thing is that they treat their customers very well and they are extremely fair. But I can assure you they are not a scam, as they have not only paid me very well, but helped me to learn about this industry by not only providing an immense amount of support, but teaching me how to give merchants a better solution for processing their credit cards.

  • Susan

    This company IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED! They have LIED over and OVER AGAIN!!!!! I would NOT recommend anyone to start with this company and I hate to say I am just starting my TWO YEAR CONTACT with them and I already feel this way!!!!! Please BEWARE —– they are complete LIERS!!!!!!

  • Laralee Boyd

    First contacted in person by sales rep walking in my door claiming he could save me money. I did agree to try their service because he made a phone call and came back to me with a “quote”. I have vision problems and asked him to read what I was signing to me. He told me several times that there was no contract, no monthly fees, just transaction fees. I asked for a copy of everything that I signed. He told me he had no copies ? I said that I did not want to start the service until I got the paperwork. He said he would bring it when he came back to set up the equipment. He came and set up the equipment by talking to someone on the phone. I used the equipment for a couple of transactions using my telephone. We have no internet service at the store. On June 9, 2013, I noticed a charge on my bank statement for a monthly fee ? I called APEX on June 11, 2013 and spoke with Tony Ortiz and he closed the account but told me that there was a contract cancellation fee of $495. I had received some documents – 8 pages out of 14 ? – on May 17th from a Mr Coleman, but there were pages missing and no “contract” that I could see. I was also forced to close my business checking account to prevent further charges until resolving this matter. I contacted the company sending e-mails to Mr Frankel and Mr Banks and received no response. I also contacted the BBB with a complaint. No statements have ever been received by my business regarding transactions or charges. Today I received a demand letter for payment and a threat of collection, though from First American Payment Systems (same company ?) ! I spoke twice with Ryan at (800) 633-1702. Very condescending, untrained and rude young man. He told me that six transactions were processed for me in May and June and my account was not closed and why should I expect them to do things for me for free ! He also refused to send me copies of so-called transactions… I told him that I was proceeding to litigation because he did not seem able to resolve this problem. He demanded payment…we are at an impasse and I do intend to pursue this matter to my resolve it to my satisfaction.

  • Kaylee Bond

    I do not recommend them to ANYONE. The lady came in my store and offered me a no contract card-swipe. I asked her several times what the catch was. I was supposed to only be paying her $5.00 a month plus a small percent of each swipe and she totally lied. They billed me $596 and she REFUSED to answer any of my calls. No one from the company would help me and they all said that they had seen where she wrote in the comments section, “no contract – $5.00 monthly” and they refused to acknowledge it. So I was put on a 3 month payment plan. If I was a day late paying, they would call my phone non stop. Then when I made my final payment I didn’t hear from them again. Not even to make sure I knew they got my payment. So not only was I screwed over but my representative was a total jerk. I’m from Pascagoula MS. The woman’s name was Cheri May. I’ll never do business with them again and I’ll never recommend it.

    • Mihir Patel

      Hello,

      My name is Mihir Patel. I was scammed by the same company so I decided to start a comapny processing credit cards. I have figured out how this industry works and what are the minimum charges etc. If you are interested in saving money I could help you set up your credit card processing.

      Here is how it will work.

      1. you will pay their cancellation fee.
      2. either you have your own terminal or buy one from me at my cost.

      I will set you up with an account that is not contract and you are not satisfied with it you can change it any time you want.

      Thanks,

      Mihir Patel

      931 446 7317.

  • Tommy

    Apex is a scam and people should beware. If they come knocking run run run. Tim Frirz that came in my office ensured me this was a month to month contract, Witch I found out was not true. That is my fault I should of read the contract. That is there practice they lie to people to get them on board. I do not want to do business with people like that. What happened to HONESTY AND INTEGRITY????

    Tim Frirz, Is a lier person he’s a very hungry money man, Apex merchant is a fate company i has lost money over $ 800.00 in couple days,
    Tim Frirz, might goes to hell someday you tried to eat peoples a lots of money.

  • Rich

    We were getting calls from this company EVERY day, even after telling them several times that we were not interested. I asked them to not call us any more and to put us on a “do not call” list. They still called the next day, and the day after, and the day after that.

    Our secretary answered one of their calls and spoke with someone who said they would send info via mail on how they could help us save money on our credit card processing.

    Several days later, out of the blue at 11:55am in walks a salesman for this company.
    Our secretary had to leave, but showed him our cc processing invoices so they could let us know if they could save us money.

    After lunch the salesman returned and proceeded with a high pressure sales pitch even after she told him that she would not commit to anything today. He called someone, a supervisor I suspect, and put him on speakerphone – he proceeded with even higher pressure sales tactics which continued after she repeated she would NOT commit today. The supervisor person on the speakerphone was getting really annoying – to the point where the owner of the company (who had been in the office overhearing everything) got up and screamed at the salesman to “GET OUT! NOW!!!!”

    The salesman slammed his flip phone shut and just about ran for the door!
    I would not recommend these fools to anyone!

  • Anonymous

    I have been exhausted with the field I have been working in for the last 8 years and sales was a big part of this field as well which I very much enjoyed. I did leave my current position to take a break and thought I would try my hand in an “independent” adventure and was contacted by APEX. I went through the training and felt pumped by it!….I mean I was truly excited!….I thought, “WOW, what a great thing! We get to help ‘knowledge’ business owners on how to save money by cutting out the ‘middle men’ – the banks – and help them use this ‘saved’ money to generate more revenue to turn their small business into a big business.” I have only been out there for 2 days and after reading these reviews I feel validated for the negative feelings and red flags i was noticing. I am a very positive and upbeat person and I thought I was maybe not giving APEX a chance but now I realize that my gutt was right. I had owners not know i was coming. I was lied to from owners saying they are not the owners and never heard of APEX and when I did build the trust and comradary with the merchant and got them on the phone with my direct Rep, they quickly turned defensive and handed back the phone to me telling me they do not want to talk to this person because he is yelling at them. I spoke with my family and my father sent me this link and now here I am writing this blog. I feel foolish for not researching them through the BBB and even using 5 hours and 2 days of my time trying to make something work when clearly there were only 3 positive posts in the last 2 years and the rest were negative. I don’t want to hurt any small business or my integrity for that matter. I also believe in Karma and I am not about to pay for the Karma that goes along with these negative reviews. It’s hard enough to be in business with this economy but to be taken advantage of by misguidance and misleads is a terrible energy to have out there. I wish all of you the best and I am very grateful for your information. You have saved me a lot of time, money and guilt for that matter if I ever thought I was responsible for doing someone wrong for lack of information given to me or to the merchant/business. Good luck to you all and may God bless this situation!

    • Jennifer

      I signed with Apex Nov. 29.2012. I so regret not doing the research and run for the hills when they came. So sorry to hear so many people have been scammed by them. I am glad to know that i am not crazy and that i am not the only person out there who expected businesses to be ethical and honest. I basically have the same experience everyone here is having. Before i cancel with my existing processor, they told me that the early cancellation fee was going to be over $675. I spoke to the Apex agent who was signing me up about this huge early cancellation fee. He told me that its customary for processors to pay for the full termination fee and that all i had to do was to fax him the invoice and he would take care of it. I’ll send them a check. I reiterated to him that it was over $675. He said, “yeah, yeah, whatever it is, just sent their invoice over.” I believed him. After all, he had been feeding me the “just call me, I’ll take care of everything” and answering every of my calls without delay. I continued the process of terminating my then existing processor and signed up with Apex. But just to be sure, i called the Apex agent (Coleman Clark) to find out if he paid the fee. He didn’t answer the phone. Another man answered. He told me to call customer service. He said, “If Coleman said he’ll do it then it’s done but if you want call customer service they have all the records.” I called the processor I cancel with and they told me the fee was not paid. I called Apex customer service, she told me that the max they would cover up to was $250 and that there is a procedure i had to go through. I informed her of what Coleman the agent had told me. She said, “Coleman may have a different arrangement with you so you need to call him.” I kept calling but as soon as the phone rings, I am switched back to customer service which does not know what to do for me other than tell me to call Coleman. I faxed him at the number where he had received everything i sent but no reply. This went on and on. I emailed Apex online and someone called and left a message telling me the max termination coverage is $300 and that there is a procedure to go through. I called her back and left a message. She didn’t return my call. I ended up writing a letter and emailing it to all the top guys in Apex including the founder, Andy Frankel. He called and spoke to me. But he was defending his people and implying that i was making up the numbers and that i should have read the contract. When i told him that I had many questions for the agent, he answered them but i now realized that he had deviated from what the contract actually read. I requested Mr. Frankel to release me from the contract and to return my machine which he had swapped back to me. I informed him that i would not have sign up with Apex if Apex told me they could not pay the entire termination fee. He said, “Iyou were talking to a saleman who was making a commission.” I said, “yes, your saleman represent your company and therefore what he tells me has to be consistent with the contract. If he gives me the wrong answer when i asked him questions before signing up, then I was misled.” Mr. Frankel said, “‘ll call you back. I have to check on somethings.” He didn’t call back. I emailed him over and over again asking him to follow up. He finally emailed back and said he would call me. He again didn’t call. I wrote again asking he to connect me with someone who can resolve the issue if he has no time. Of course, no response. It’s been over 2 or 3 weeks. I am tired of it. I will terminate with Apex and if they want to sue me, i will just have to trust the justice system. There is no option. They are withdrawing fees out of my account like crazy. If they don’t respond to my communication, how can they expect me to keep the contract? What a mess? I already submitted a complain to the BBB. What else can i do? It’s taken so much of my time dealing with Apex. Time is money. They are costing me too much. I didn’t even write everything that went wrong. It’s too much to write.

      I will call the attorney general on Monday and band together with you guys. Justice has to be served. They can’t be allowed to keep scamming people.

      Good luck everyone!!!!

      • Shelia

        Jennifer..I signed up with them and am having the same issues as you with this awful company. What can I do to get this contract canceled and monies refunded? Please help me. I do not know what to do..

      • Suki

        I have seen complaints about many problems like the ones we are dealing with, but so far, I haven’t been able to find any comments about what worked in resolving them. Anyone know of a successful resolution?

  • HD

    I received a recruiting call from this company, offering me a contractor role that involves going on sales appointments that have been made and confirmed TWICE through their call center. They stated that the leads are warm and that the merchants would be expecting my visit (which is contrary to complaints received by the BBB). I asked a LOT of questions, especially in regards to their commission based pay. I was not given sufficient information and when I asked a question that the recruiter on the phone didn’t know the answer to, I was told that I would get that information during the 5 hour training webinar. She started to get irritated with me for asking all of the questions, but I am 35 years old and have worked for Fortune 100 companies, and only accepted the jobs after multiple interviews and a precise description of how commissions were paid out, but this girl tried to tell me that NO company tells you that information until you get hired?!?!?! Um, NO. So, since the whole thing was fishy, and I did NOT apply for the job, they got my resume from careerbuilder.com, I decided to google the company while I was on the phone, and that is when I found this website with it’s own ratings, as well as the BBB rating of F with 132 complaints in 36 months, for a company that has barely been in business for 5 years. When I brought this issue up with the girl on the phone, she proceeded to attempt to insult my intelligence by telling me that “you have to pay the BBB, and since we don’t pay them anymore, that is why we are rated F and there was even a show on 20/20 about the BBB”, she was obviously trained to have that response to an objection that is based on the BBB rating, which only tells me that they have shady business practices. Unfortunately for her, I am not an idiot who believes everything I hear, especially from a person at a company who is trying to SELL ME on the job… that is a HUGE red flag. To her ignorant response, I replied, “I am sorry, but you are mistaken. The BBB is a non-profit organization that rates businesses solely on feedback they get from customers and employees. Yes, you do have to pay the BBB, as a company, to be listed in their directory and allow them to rate you based on complaints or lack thereof, but you don’t “buy” your score, and you don’t get a score of “F” because you chose to stop paying to be part of the BBB. And now you are trying to make me believe that the BBB is wrong, and that it is THEIR fault that your company is rated “F”? Please don’t insult my intelligence.” She could not answer a lot of my questions, and I am not going to accept a contract with a company and waste 5 hours of my life in a web based training, when I would actually find out how much I am getting paid and on what terms I would be paid, only to find out that in fact, the company does have shady business practices. I mean, if they are going to blame the BBB for their failing score and try to justify/defend themselves by implying that the BBB was somehow vilified on 20/20, making their claims that they got a failing score because they didn’t BUY a passing score, that is a lie, and does not set a good first impression. There is a big difference between F and A. I take the BBB ratings very seriously, and I trust them over this company anyway.

  • roselita

    I am right now in the process of trying to cancel my aggreement. The sales rep hid so many things from me when I signed on March 14th2013. I didnt even write the date on the contract and after signing I found out a bunch of hiddens fees, a 36 month agreement etc… I am soo dispapointed and schoked! they even started to take money from my account. Is there a way to file a class action suit against them ? I see a lot of you here have the same problem. I don’t want them to get way with my money!! thay are scmas , liars and when you try to contact them, you can’t reach tejem. they are supposed to call you back within the hour and they NEVER do it.I am so mad right now, I have sent letter after letter. If i have to close my account, ill do it.

    • pat

      You will have to close your account to stop them from taking anymore money, thats what I had to do.Today I recieved a letter from them saying I now owe them 495.00 12 days ago the letter said 295.00 unreal, this company is one big SCAM… guess I have to find an attorney today.

    • Terry D

      I am also in battle with Apex. They made so many false promises. One being that they were buying out my lease from my previous processing company. That was over a year ago. Never happened. Just paid off the lease myself before legal action was taken. Will also contact the better business bureau and attorney general.. Anyone interested in a class action suit, I’m game!

  • pat

    Wow.. same problems here with this company.. I have a small auto repair shop that I do on the side. I had a credit card machine some years back, not through apex but another co. when the term was up I cancelled the service because there just wasn’t enough usage to justify the cost every month. Someone from this apex merchant group contacted me about credit card processing and I told them that I wasn’t interested because of the fee’s and didn’t have many customers using credit/debit cards at my garage. The rep said our fee’s are very very low because its very competitive now I will send a rep to talk to you.The rep came an hour and a half later than our agreed appointment, said she had car trouble, looked like she just rolled out of bed. She flat out lied, said the monthly fee would be 7 dollars a month and 1.6% per transaction. They were taking on average 47.00 from my account when I questioned it I was told to read my contract, I could not find any of that in it. I started this contract 1-2012 in oct 2012 my checking account was was accidently double charged for something and over drew my account without me knowing for a few days. In that time period apex tried to debit their fee and was denied so they terminated my service and now are charging me a 495.00 early termination fee. I called to explain what had happened and spoke to crystal whitehill who was so rude and would talk over me the entire time, I had to close my account at the bank to keep them from taking money, they alread took 200.00 before I was able close it and now the are demanding the other 295.00 or they are reporting to the credit agency and taking legal action.. I’m at my wits end with these people..

  • Art

    We were contacted in October 2012 by APEX. The representative seemed knowledgeable about the fees and percentatges. I should have done due dilligence and done better research as I usually do. So I guess its my own fault. We are a small independant auto repair shop. We try to keep all of our costs down… we want a low overhead so we can offer the lowest cost repairs possible. So I look at my statement from APEX …I have no issue with the percentages; its all the network access fees and terminal fees. So I called Customer Service to ask what all these additional fees are for. There are PCI fees, terminal access fees, network access fees and another surcharge fee. An average of $16.00 to $39.00 per month…. plus the account fee and the documentation fee…. and Kathleen was not a very pleasant person to deal with. “Its all spelled out in your contract”… well Ma’am, we never got a copy of the signed contract back from the Representative who sold us the program. “Thats impossible Sir, they always leave a copy. They left us a fee sheet that reflects the percentages and some of the monthly fees. I have tried to contact the “representative” that came out here… with his whole “you can call me at any time if you have any questions or concerns”. The cell phone number is no longer working.
    The Rep had touted that they have the monies processed into your account within 48 hours “even on weekends”… and that has proved to be far from the truth. It averages three to five days… and that is if there isn’t a holiday involved. He also stated that if we weren’t satisfied with the service we could terminate at anythine with no penalties. I guess I will know next week if that is true or not.
    We are preparing to drop APEX and go back to Square, we never had a problem with Square and certainly didn’t have the level of fees these guys are charging us. I am preparing to send them a certiried/return receipt letter notifying them of cancelation. Then I will be contacting the Texas State Attorney Generals Office. They aren’t violating the Durbin Amendment… they are just “feeing you to death” in every other way possible.

  • Bruce

    Up date. I tried to close my account also. They Merimac /Apex said they closed my account. They are the same people. They made treat to take me to court because I was (3) days late on payment.they wanted $2838.24 to close the acount that I have been trying to close from the beginning when they did disclose the complete contract with me. I have contacted Kevin who is a collection Specialist Merimac Capital.Kevin told me I had two options . One to pay in full $2838.24 or to started paying themonthly fee of $47.60. If I didn’t do this they were going to there own words,
    Notice to you of our intent to accelerate this account for additional review.
    At which time we shall consider taking such legal action as deemed appropriate in order to enforce your contractural obigation to Merimac Capital.
    After the letter from them and talking to Kevin He told me that my contract with Apex Merchant group had been canceled in the Thirth day grace period and there would be no more charges from them. Wrong.
    About two weeks later I recieve a call from Apex Merchant Group stating they wanted $495.00 or they could ajust the monthly charge that I was not to have at all to $20.00 per month.
    I made no aggrement with Apex and I’m waithing to see what they do next.
    I have contacted the Attorney General .
    Marion keep a eye on your bank they will try again.

    • Marion Bradley

      Bruce- you are so right! After the first charge of $495.00 came through, and got sent back, the second charge of $495.00 went through about a month later. Since I was out of state at the time, I called my banker who promptly sent it back as well. She also suggested I close out my account when I get back in town. BUT, before I could get back in town (about 6 days later) – Merimac had sent one in for $585.00. So, now I have written a dispute again with my bank, and closed the account. I found out that this company goes by about 10 different names, I know they will be sending me collection/attorney letters next. I have already contacted the BBB here in Ga and in Texas- how do I go about contacing the Attorney General?

      • Sherry C

        Please let me know what you guys find out :( I have been dealing with this horrible company for 25 months!!! I was only given a partial contract….how convenient, and am being charged multiple fees that I was never told about. I was specifically told that there would not be any additional fees! I was also told it was a 2 year contract and now find out that it’s a 3 yr. contract…and since the last half of my contract was never given to me…I’m out of luck unless I want to pay $495 fee. This is making me physically sick!!! Please help!!!

        • Bruce

          Contact the BBB in Texas Fort Worth.
          1300 Summit Avenue Suite 101
          817/332/7585
          Fax 817/882/0566
          I filed a complaint with them today 4/4/13
          If eveyone who has a complaint files with them I beleive they will take care of this mess. Merimac Capital is Apex Merchant Group . I have a letter from Kevin who is a collection specialist for them who has been able to tell me one thing and do another. He has now sent me a letter stating that if I start paying Merimac I will not have to pay Apex Merchant Group there was$ 495.00 now it is 576.04and a processing fee off $ 81.04.
          Then if I want to cancel Merimac Capital I need to send Kevin $2910.04. This amout was $2838.24.
          Please everone having this problem call them Let us stand together .
          Kevin has told me that I don’t want to not pay them becasue they will make me come to Texas to court over this. I have never used there service and tried to get out of it the very day they they charged me the second day after I signed the agreemet. And I had not ussed it or seen the sales person who was to go over the contract with me and the processing machine.
          If everyone calls in the next week I thing the BBB will be more then happy to do something. I think if they have more complaints the better. I have paper work to prove they are the same. I als filed with the Attorny General in Texas and Iowa where I live. File it Please. Bruce

          • Bruce

            Apex has been Harassing me for over two Months now . There collection person Kevin Hinkle has call and a Gentleman Name David from Legal Intervention Apex Merchant one time Merimac next time . David would call two to four times a day. Now he called and stated that Merimac was going to start legal action.
            I have stopped making payments to them. They have tried to have me pay them three different amounts to pay them off. Also they have not told the truth about all of the companies who are charging fees to close this. I have contacted BBB Attorney general in Texas & Iowa. It seams there may be no way to stop them.
            Keep trying someone has to be looking at this company.

  • Marion Bradley

    I live in Middle Georgia, and a sales rep from this company came to my business in order to get me to change from my current company to them. When I told them I was under contract with another company, they stated they would handle it for me if I decided to go with them. Because I was unsure if they could save me money, they offered me a “60 day trial” in their words, “cancel if we do not save you money.” This not only came from the original sales guy, but he was on speakerphone with his supervisor- and I also had another employee listening. to the conversation. When they did NOT save me money, and I called within my “trial period” to cancel- they would NOT allow me to just cancel. After two weeks of run around, they charged my account a $495.00 early cancellation fee. I filed a complaint with my bank, was charged $35.00 to do a stop payment- and got my money back- but I worry that other small business owners will get ripped off by this company, and even though I got my money back, I worry for others. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY! My other concern is that since these people are currently “working” the Middle Georgia area but are located in Texas, I really wanted my local BBB to see this, but I am not so sure that this will be shared with them.- here is hoping it will!

  • Joyce

    Apex is a scam and people should beware. If they come knocking run run run. Tim Frirz that came in my office ensured me this was a month to month contract, Witch I found out was not true. That is my fault I should of read the contract. That is there practice they lie to people to get them on board. I do not want to do business with people like that. What happened to HONESTY AND INTEGRITY????

  • Beat G

    When Apex called me to make me the “offer of employment” I asked the lady about all the bad comments listed on the internet. She assured me that all companies have bad comments and I should not worry about them. As to the BBB rating of “D”, she replied that Apex is not a member of the BBB.
    I had time and nothing to loose, so I agreed to give it a shot. The training session on line was 5 hours and quite professionally done. The Presenter made reference to preset appointments and went in length to explain the process. He repeated this twice: “we are the only company that makes the appointments with the business owners and talk to them at least twice. Once to set the appointment and once to confirm it”. This seemed to be the part that was most important to the presenter.

    The real world with Apex is different. It reminds me of the Capital One commercial where this scruffy guy sits in front of a hut somewhere in Bangladesh and answers the phone about rewards points: “you have points?, this Peggy.” Peggy in this case is Mike, the “partner” that helps you get no business. He opens the phone book, points at a address and send you there, aimlessly, without using a grid or common sense. He expects you to talk with people that clearly have told him they do not want to talk with anyone. Over and over again….

    All Apex had to do is to tell potential agents that cold calling will get results, that’s all. But no, they make up this bogus story about confirmed leads. Shame on you and shame on me for being dumb enough not to believe all the bad comments I red here on this post.

    As it relates to customers or potential buyers: Read the box that your sales person calls standard fees of the industry. Do not let them get away with it. Add them up to see how much you will have to pay per month. As for the lease of the Apex e90, 60 month of $99.00 is a total lease payment of $5940.00. Do not make this mistake. Your bank will likely sell you a new one for $250.00 and if your business is large enough, you will get it for free.

  • Valerie Bivens

    I signed up with Apex expecting to pay a $ 5 monthy service charge along with the 1.62 percentage of merchant services. The rep that came to my office door was totally unprepared to discuss the program upon which time she called her manager who got me on the phone and stated those figures. Nothing else about further charges were disclosed at this time. They have charged $99 to my account after less than a month. I called them on this and was told I would recieve a reimbursment within 3 weeks (which have passed). I phoned them today regarding cancellation of my service at which time they said they could do that if I pay $499 for that. I said no, I would not pay that and to take all costs to 0$ and I would stay with them. At that point the Director of Operations: Tony Ortiz hung up the phone. Unbelievable. I have filed a complaint with the BBBureau and will file a complaint with the Attorney General of the state of California.
    If I can recommend NEVER do business with this bogus Apex Merchant Group.

  • steve

    I have been getting numerous calls from this company since mid October. I told them to not call me the first 2 times they called, now when I answer the phone I just say “I told you not to call me” and they hang up and continue to call! I would not recommend this company to anyone. They are scammers!

  • Kim

    It was so sad for me to see all these negative comments about a great company. I currently work with this company after working with another payment processer for 5 weeks that was really bad and really lied, I am not hear to slander them therefore I would not mention their name but I can tell you I got burned for $800.00 in commissions so I left. The support and managment team to me at APEX is awesome. I went out my first week after really good training and signed up 9 merchants that really liked me and I not only disclosed the minimum fee’s that ALL processors have, you all should know this, All the other fees are clearly printed on the application and were discussed as well. Most processors have a cancellation fee so this should be no surprise to a Merchant. As sales people folks you not only want to earn a Merchants business you want to keep them on board with you for a long time and gain referrals from them. My experience with APEX has been really good. My pay check comes like clock work folks and is direct deposited. If you sign up a Merchant you will not get paid if your accounts do not activate so it is not only important to be pro active on your customers getting installed you need to have good follow up skills. APEX is a great company, just my opinion. All companies are going to have their baggage with different perspectives. My customers like me, they like their services and most importantly they were taken out of a bad situation and put in a good one or they would not have changed. If you cannot save a Merchant money why would anyone lie to them to gain their business? During the review you can clearly see a Merchant is being taken advantage of. I am sorry for all of you who feel you were miss led but my experience is totally different. I had to interject with something good as APEX is a good company.

  • Bruce Scott

    I signed up with Apex. In doing this I told my cost per month would be $40.00 to $50.00 . No other monthly charges . No limit on credit card use or amount charged. Just a fee for using it 1-2 % .
    I started this on 10/30/12
    They Mermac Capitol had charged my acount $ 47.60 11/07/12
    Then a bank AC Bankcard also charged my acc $52.86 monthly fee.
    I had told Apex I wanted to cancle this the 10/31/12 When she told me that I couldn’t cancel it becasue it was a contract just like buying a car
    I called the company and they told me that If I wanted out it would cost me $2265.00
    And for the AC bank $465.00
    I haven’t used the service.
    The sales person said she would call them and have them take it off. I found out there would still be a monthly fee to the people who process the cards.I Guess I’m stuck with this.
    Please advise if there is a way to fix or change this.

    • Bruce Scott

      After Having my bank block Apex/Merimac from taking money out of my account in writing Merimac Capital under a different number took $1865.84 from my account. I had just called my back to make sure there were no othere charges on it . I cought it that day and had a stop put on it. I was lucky to have checked.
      I got it stopped.
      They will do anything to get your money. Yesterday they left a message that my account is no longer in collections but is is legal Intervention Wanting me to call them. They have lied to me sent me three different closing cost and different companys charging you.
      Now they are talking legal.4-17-13
      Becareful and cover your bank acc. You might want to change banks also as it has taken four months and I’m not sure they are done.
      Contact the BBB will help.817-332-7585 talk to Nancy Salas
      This is in Fort WorthTexas

  • Nate

    Apex Merchant Group is the biggest joke on earth. I worked for them 3 days each day I burned a whole tank of gas driving all over town to the “pre-set” appointments. On the third day I went to the “pre-set” appointment at a Mexican restaurant and the owner called the police on me for soliciting. When the cops called Apex they said they set an appointment 4 months ago but this was the first chance they were able to get someone out. When I showed the officer the email that was sent to me he let me go. I didn’t even go to the rest of the appointments that were set for me that day. They called me for a week after that asking me when I was coming back, I simply told them I didn’t have money to get gas and hung up. I worked in sales before but this is straight up lying. If anyone gets a call from these people just hang up, they don’t support you and set you up to fail.

  • Larry

    This company does not fully disclose all the collection fees required upfront. The call center customer support employees I dealt with and specifically the Collection Specialists are not very helpful with explaining or justifying my questions. On more than one occasion they were short tempered and extremely unhelpful. Small business has a hard enough time without hassles and undisclosed withdrawls from this electronic processing company and the time involved in trying to correct situations.
    It isalso very disappointing to see this long list of complainants ahead of me!
    Shop around before signing with this company.

  • gloria

    I too was screwed over by Apex, and one of their reps. Lied to about saving money and matching
    my current processor, without any minimums or hidden fees. The rep just said all this stuff, and didn’t
    cross it off on the contract form. I told him that I did not want to be locked into a contract , I currently only pay $5
    a month being a member of my photo association. He said he would throw in a new processor and
    I would just need to send it back if I chose not to continue. I thought o.k I would get a new processor and
    not have to pay for it, but send it back if I decided to quit. I got my first bill and was charged a minimum,
    and did not get the low rate promised. Also when I told the rep. I get half mail order and half retail,
    he put 90 percent retail and 10 percent mail, so I would be at a higher rate. I had to call and
    complain and it took sometime. Than I got a annual fee bill on my bank statement and I called to
    complain, as I wasn’t told. The rep said, oh you shouldn’t have gotten a minimum or a yearly fee.
    He seemed to say I shouldn’t have this, but wasn’t doing anything. So I talked to the corporate to
    this girl named Ameilia , she said that my rep didn’t cross anything off, so therefore I have to
    pay for all the fees. On top of that she said I had to have one or the other, a minimum or a yearly fee.
    I argued about it to no avail. I said reimburse me for the yearly fee and I guess I will take the minimum.
    A week passes back and I was not reimbursed. The rep said, he talked to his boss Art and he would fix it!
    So I emailed Ameila and said I did not get reimbursed. She calls me back and said you need to sign
    the paper saying that you will be charged a minimum fee. I said my rep talked to Art and I shouldn’t
    be charged either. Than she starts arguing with me and I just got mad, and didn’t hear anything on
    the other end. I hung up and she calls back and says, I guess we got disconnected. I said she
    was very unprofessional, than she stars arguing again. She says do you want to talk to my supervisor,
    I said yes, so she puts another women on Anna who I doubt was her supervisor, as she said, I sit
    right beside Amelia and she didn’t hang up on you. Whatever! I said I doubt you are the supervisor,
    and she starts arguing with me, saying you can cancel anytime, I don’t care. I said I will.
    I try to cancel with customer service and they transfer me back to Amelia! Amelia says I can’t
    cancel, I have to pay $499. I said your supervisor said I can cancel anytime! Amelia said no she didn’t
    I sit right beside her!
    I re-read the contract and it says 36 months or pay an early termination fee. This is so maddening as
    I said I did not want to be stuck in a yearly contract. I was lied to, and there was a faint cross out mark
    on my paper over that line, but don’t know if it was on their copy! It’s only been 2 months but I want out!

  • Jay

    I worked for Apex Merchant Group for over three weeks and my experience is exactly the same as all the other posts on this site…Pre-set appointments are a joke…nearly every one plainly told Apex NOT TO SEND SOMEONE BY!!! I did manage to make a few sales and was given drawn out excuses of why I hadn’t received my commision…you don’t have a sales ID yet, let me contact payroll, we had to make concessions to get the sale, etc. I never received a dime in compensation for working over three weeks and I spent hundreds of dollars and wasted time in tracking down bogus “pre-set” appointments.

    Finally, I quit and sent an email to all of my contacts referring them to information posted all over the internet about this company…within minutes I got a call from Andy Frankel CEO of Apex merchant Group threatening to sue me for slander and calling me an idiot!! If that wasn’t enough, I get the following email from Mr. Frankel “I just want everyone to know that Jay has tested positive for drugs, be very careful of Jay he is a loose cannon He is late on his house payment and car payment. He still owes us $780 !! Be very careful” #1 I don’t use drugs #2 I don’t own a home #3 I own my 1994 camry (no payments) #4 how could I possibly owe them money??? It cost me over $300 to work for them just in gas alone!!!

    I’m in disbelief…this guy, Andy Frankel is a CEO???????? I look forward to the day this guy tries to sue me for working for his company and I can go before a Judge and tell this story…

  • Michele

    They keep calling and leaving rude message on my ansering machine because I don’t pick up the phone. I do not pick up because we have caller ID and I am not interested. I shall also report them to the “Do Not Call List”
    They would be the last company I would give any business to.

  • Michael Rodrigues

    After the sales pitch and all the promises I signed up with them. The sales people said they could support the software I used to process cards and that there was no PCI fee. Both statements where misleading. When it came time to setup up the software with the new info. the “tech” from Apex didn’t know how to do it and said I would have to purchase a support contract with the software vendor. I didn’t want to do this so I told them just to forget the whole thing if they can not set it up. Never heard from them again but found out they were deducting a statement fee every month but not sending a statement. When I figured out it was them I call to get them to stop and was told I had to send a ‘Letter of Closure” to stop the monthly fees. What they didn’t tell me was that they were going to take $495 from my account for closing an account that, according to them, was never activated. You can’t talk to anyone there I now have to send a letter, by mail! We’ll see how it goes but so far these guys stole over $900 from me.

  • Rose

    We switched companies last spring & when I called to cancel they told me I had to wait until after Oct 1 when our contract was up or pay almost $600 for an early termination. We decided to wait & I just got off the phone & was told since I didn’t let them know I wanted to cancel in a 30 day window BEFORE Oct 1 it would once again cost me almost $600 because the contract was automatically renewed without our permission! When I called last Spring, which they have that on record, they NEVER told me about a 30 day window so I told him we won’t be paying it. I have to fax a paper in writing say we want to cancel & I’m going to put it on there to how I was never told about the 30 day window & if they take it out we will take further action. The very reason we switched is because of being lied to by the saleman. We came to find out he also lied to 2 other people in our area. Apex promised to return some charges & after calling & calling to find out when it was going to happen I finally gave up. We were told it’s a flat rate but come to find out there’s way more than that! We were told there’s never a annual fee but wrong again! Like many others there were a lot of hidden fees we were promised we didn’t have to pay but guess what, when they have your banking info they pretty much do what they want. We are a small business struggling to keep our head above water & can’t afford to lose almost $600.

  • Keshia jones

    I worked for Apex and I loved it i made great money anytime dealing with sales its a number game. Yes some owners will tell you to come out maybe just to get you off the phone so maybe 1 or 2 bad appt., These people want to work for free. commisssion is a hard thing to deal with so some people cant handle rejections. Half of the time other companies put bad things online or one person post multiple times. So if Apex was such a bad company how would they stay in business if they are not doing good deals. You can look up Wal-Mart and tons of other companies and you will find the same thing……………….

  • Casey

    These people totally lied to my FACE! I own a hairsalon, that i am the only employee at. So, its a very small business. I never had any interest in getting a credit card machine, cash and checks were just fine. But i recieved a call from a man who was fairly local and he seemed nice enough, so i agreed to meet him. We had a nice chat about his family and the fact that he was also a preacher at a church. He told me that we would wave any setup charges, and the only charges i would get would be 5 bucks a month plus around 1% interest. I figured, that seems like a good deal. I asked him would there be any surprise charges, he said no. would there be any annual fees? He said no. Well good deal then right? NO! Soon after i received my terminal,( which was broken and i had to get a new one), they debited 60 bucks from my account. I called David the distributer and told him about the charges, he said are you sure its from us? There are alot of companies named apex.He made me send a screen shot of my account with the name of the company next to the amount before he believed me. Then he said i will take care of it. He later sent me an “email” saying he couldnt figure out what it was and to call the home office. Needless to say after about 2 weeks of back and forth, faxing this and that, they finally said it was indeed SETUP CHARGES.Hmmm…well thats odd you said there were none. Next thing i know, im charged almost 100 bucks for an ANNUAL FEE. Then $125 for a PCI FEE (sounds like surprise charges to me). Not to mention my monthly bill has never ONCE been as low as they say. I barely charge $100 normally a month. So my bill should NEVER be over what?say…10 dollars? Its always around 30 sometimes more. Obviously David is nowhere to be found and i am stuck with this company for 3 years, unless i want to pay 500 dollars to get out. DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH THIS COMPANY!

  • Jeannie

    Our Business has been closed for a year now and I have 3 more months I have to keep letting apex take money from our account, even though we’re not in business any longer. The sales rep that talked us into signing a contract didn’t tell us it was for 3 years and lied about fees he said he could save us money, they have taken money out of our acount for fees I don’t even know what they are for. These people are con artist, you can count me in if you decide to do a class action suite against them. The Sales person’s name was Bill Dales I haven’t been able to get in touch with him since the day we signed a contract. I just hope they don’t get by with this deception and lies. I don’t know how they can sleep at night, taking advantage of small business people who are barely making it.

  • Hella

    We are a small family owned company and Apex is a fraud. We did a large transaction last friday and it is now Wednesday of the following week. It was for $1400.00, we contacted the company when the money wasn’t deposited on the following Monday. We were told that we have a $500 limit on our account (not using credit, accepting credit). They want us to prove we made the sale with all the customers personal information before they will release the funds. They have had the funds since Monday. (can anyone say “interest earned?”) I know that its a small amount to some but what gives them the right to keep our money? We are out $1400 worth of mercandise and they are already paid by the credit card company. How is this kind of practice possible???

    Thanks for the reviews. Will be contacting the BBB and Texas if I have to.

  • Randy Brennan

    I switched to APEX last Oct. A month went by and I was notified that a new Federal law made it necessary for me to purchase a new terminal from them.(big lie). My new terminal was not secure. (so they said). I just signed on with a new processor and am having them re-activate my old terminal. I am sending back the APEX terminal but am stuck with a four year lease of $37.80 a month for a machine that is worth about $200. I was supposed to save about 50% on my processing fees with them but so far I have been charged about three times more than my old processor charged. If anyone from APEX calls you, Hang up!

  • Alanna

    I received 2 blocked calls from Apex this morning about the Durbin amendment. The first thing they asked me was does your business take credit cards? Without formally introducing themselves. The man who spoke to me named Andre Mayfield told me someone will be over tomorrow to hand me a copy of the amendment along with the discounted rate. He also said this was all government mandated and told me to google the Durbin amendment without explaining it to me! This sounded all too shady so I decided to google the apex company and found this. After reading all these horrible reviews I tried calling them back to stop who ever from coming to my home. The number listed above is actually another company, the right number is 888-330-2739. So I call and even the rep over the phone was rude and said he can’t guarantee the person won’t show up! They sell “wholesale” rates lol! I’m glad I found this page and did my research so I don’t get ripped off by them. Hope this review will help prevent others from getting robbed.

  • Vincene Lewis

    Whatever you do READ THE FINE PRINT. This company has sales people misleading the agreement . Joe Orlando, the sales rep in Naples FLorida, told me on June 26th. there were no fees. He told me he would save me money compared to the “Square” processing I was currently using. He told me the equipment would be free and the next thing I know they charged my bank account for equipment. I haven’t seen the refund I was promised. I wish so very badly to be released from this contract before it costs me anything else. They can’t be trusted. I never know what charge they are going to put through on my account next.
    I so want to be done with this company.
    Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere for your credit card processing.

  • Jeff

    Apex merchant group is as good as any other if not better in the industry. The reveiws i have read are full of childish frustrations of people that did not get exactly what they wanted. The contracts are 3 years and there is a cancellation fee, like any other in the industry. They lease equipment, they sell equipment, they loan equipment. As for the agents they are independents that act according to their own morals and ethics. I have not found any false or hidden statements from any of them. Most merchants are looking for the deal best for them as they should and if presented all the facts they are still having trouble choosing the correct one. Most merchants need to guided to the correct plan and realize they are not experts in this field. I was a merchant, and i can appreciate the position they are in yet I am an agent now and after the other companies get done with the smoke and mirrors my toughest job is to get through the frustration of the merchants. Apex is represented honestly and ethically in this area.

  • Jed Tarr

    I honestly don’t know where to start. This company is an absolute joke. Nobody at customer service knows what they are talking about, and I am not exaggerating. The Rep who originally signed me up has not been in contact with me since, and he will not return any of my phone calls – its clear that he just “sells” the customer and then leaves them to fend for themselves. I’m not going to waste too much time on this, since APEX has already robbed me of a significant amount of my time, transferring me between customer service agents so they don’t have to do the necessary research to find an answer to my questions.

    Go somewhere else, this business is not going to be around long.

  • Aric Sven

    We just finished three years with Apex, found a much better provider months ago but continued to pay service fees even though we weren’t using Apex to honor the three year term. They just took an unauthorized $500 out of my account. Apex has not been a good company to work with and I will report this to the BBB.

  • Nancy

    They always call my place of business and when they ask for my boss, I tell them he is not here and they merely hang up!! This has happened many times!! Not a good way to conduct business and /or try to get business!!! By the looks of the other comments, I am surprised they ARE still in business….

  • Lai Lovan

    Apex has terrible customer service. They were rude and obnoxious. I didn’t even give them permission to send a salesmen over. The salesman was a nice man. I spoke to his manager who was nice at first until I didn’t send him a fax or copy of our transactions fees and monthly fee. I was told I didn’t have to buy purchase or do anything if I didn’t want. I stayed calm but he started to get rude make smart comments. But after the whole experience I will no longer allow any salesmen with any merchant company into our business.

  • tj

    I have been doing business with this company and enjoy my lifetime of free supplies as well as free shipping and handling.My statements have never reflected any unauthorized charges. You can not please everybody but overall great customer service on my end.

  • Kim

    A gentleman called my business today asking to speak to the owner. After I told him that he was in deed speaking to her (me), he again questioned whether I was merely a manager or the owner. Again, I told him I was the owner and he asked if I was sure….ummm….ok?? Moving on, he then started reading rather quickly from a sheet of paper about sending someone out to meet with me. I cut him off and asked him “For?” and he answered “So we can save you half your money.” Again I asked, “For?” and he replied “Your credit card fees, I guarantee to lower them down to half of what you’re paying now.” I then told him that I wasn’t interested and was rather happy with my current credit card merchant (which offers low fees, no contractual agreement and no monthly fees…so really, I’m already paying next to nothing for my merchant). He then basically ignored everything I was saying and went on to tell me that someone would be meeting me Monday morning for about 10 minutes. Again I told him that I wasn’t interested and it was a waste of time to send someone here, if I’m already going to say no. He told me that the guy would be here anyway and would reschedule the appointment to a better time if I needed him to (I swear, I started to wonder whether or not we were speaking the same language…cause he’s worse at hearing than my deaf boyfriend) and again I asked him why would he waste his rep’s time by sending him to a business where the owner has already made it clear that she was not interested? He then insinuated that I was insane by stating “Well, if someone were to come knocking on my door offering to save me money on something, I’d let him in and listen to him.” I told him that I have been in business for over 5 years now, so I know and have heard of and researched all the different deals and companies out there and I was still not interested and to please not send anyone here because if someone were to show up I’d just tell him “no” anyway. He then said “Well good luck with that then” and hung up.

  • Sherri

    We are in the same sinking boat. We are supposedly hooked into a three year contract but we haven’t ran credit cards in the two years I’ve been here. Of course I can’t find any contract. We’ve been told that we will have an early penalty fee of $590 if we cancel before the anniversary date but to cancel we have to send the letter in no more than 90 days and no less than 30 days before the anniversary date. Until then we still get money taken from our checking account for “debit fees” and “credit fees”. We also had $125 taken out in March that it took our bank tracing to find out that it was Apex again for a “PCI fee” which multiple phone conversations with Apex finally revealed was for ‘fraud protection’ that all Apex customers are charged yearly. Part of the contract? Nonrefundable. Not pro-rated even though we will finally be out of this August 18…..hopefully. The fraud protection doesn’t protect from Apex though apparently. Stay away from this company. We have learned an expensive lesson.

    • Aric Sven

      We held out the three years and sent cancellation letter via certified letter 30 days prior and they still stole $500 from us via an unauthorized debit. Going to fight this one. In the mean time $500 will be in dispute a month or two. Going to find original salesperson and see what they say.

      • Mike O'Sullivan

        You can always talk to your bank and see if they can put a stop payment on the specific designator they use for ACH transactions. Simply putting a hold on a dollar amount is not a good idea as many will simply make a slight change to the amount in hopes of it going through.

  • Sandra Kohler

    Renting a credit card machine from Apex. Salesman guarantied me it would be seasonal. I now find out he did have me fill out a special paper stating seasonal. He wrote seasonal on my contract. I am not allowed to get out of program nor do I know how long they say I must stay in program. I do income taxes and every Saturday during the season the machine was down. Would not accept any charges. Tried to call for help, called the home office and the phone number they gave me for my rep was an automovile repair shop. Do not use this company, stay away from them, chase them from your door.

  • Ed

    After being ripped off, I called the state of FL they helped me get in contact with the TX AG’s office were APEX is based. They told me they have been looking into APEX. The FBI and the office of the comptroller is looking into them and the owner A. Frankel.

  • R.M

    I worked for Apex for two months. After I found out that i was told to lie to store agents and to fake #’s I stoped. It also turns out the pay was near what they said. I am now working with a Lawyer to get them to answer in court.

    • gloria towne

      You use to work for Apex and I signed up so far for only two months, and I tried to cancel, and
      they tried to say I was stuck for 36 months. How can I get out of the contract, without paying this fee?
      Who would you take to Small Claims court?

  • shawn

    This company rips people off. They denied me payment on a transaction because my ticket limit wasn’t high enough. I never knew i had a ticket limit. They then refunded customer’s credit card and still charged me over $100.00 in fees. when i called to cancel my contract i was told i can’t because my 3 years wasn’t up yet. Again, i never knew i was on a 3 year contract. if i cancel it will be $450.00 . I have to write a letter of cancellation 30 days prior and not more than 90 days in advance of my contract date and I’ll bet you they don’t reply to my letter so then they’ll renew my contract automatically whether i want to or not. I’m contacting the bbb & attorney general. I’m getting as far away as possible from apex merchant group.They are scamming people. What ever happened to cash people? credit cards are evil. our country is a mess and banks keep getting richer. Everyone gets bailed out but the taxpayers. I’m not ranting, just pissed off.

  • CMF

    One of their reps just called and asked if we take credit cards. When I said yes, he asked to speak to the owner. I asked if this was a solicitation call and he immediately became nasty. I hung up. We’ve been using the same merchant services provider for 10 years and we’re very happy. Glad I looked this company up. Now I can warn others to avoid them!

  • Lorie

    This company repeatedly has called me to try and set an appoiintment for their sales person to come and talk to me and and I have REPEATEDLY told them to email me their information because I am in the middle of wedding season and I cannot take an appointment away from a customer of mine to meet with a sales person.

    They will not take no for an answer and when I asked them to remove me from their list, the woman (that you can hardly understand) slammed the phone down in my ear.

    Great way to do business.

  • Janet

    WARNING!!! BEWARE!!!!!!
    If you use this company, you will have nothing but trouble. I have a Nurit machine and most of my transactions are away from my address so I use store and forward. On numerous occasions when trying to batch out, the operation fails and the machine dumps all of my charges and I have to call each of my customers to get my money. Today when I tried to batch out, my machine kept dialing two different numbers and could not get an answer. Consequently when I tried to cancel the transaction, the machine dumped all of the charges and I once again have to call all of the customers.

    I have called the company everytime I had trouble and nothing gets resolved. In fact one of the people I talked to today didn’t even understand what was going on!!

    When I signed on with this company, they assured me that they had a home office in Virginia and they were customer friendly. BULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They will tell you anything to get you to sign the contract. Now I see where they are not requiring a 3 year contract. I wrote them a certified letter asking to get out of the contract and never got an answer. That is the kind of people you will be dealing with.

    Believe me, there are better companies out there. Whatever you do, do your homework and DO NOT GO WITH APEX!!!!

  • Andrew

    They called and stated that Apex Merchant group was the main processor for Visa/ Mastercard. They further stated that all other processors had to go through Apex. The representative then stated that she would send someone out to my business to give us a copy of the new rates for the passing of the Durbin Amendment. I requested that she send it via email, but she then stated that it had to be hand delivered (a black and white copy). Being a businessman of 15 + years this seemed suspicious to me so I sought further information and figured out that Apex was just a regular processor and a terrible one at that. I called to report that no information was needed for me or my business and requested that no one show up here. A Bran Noel( quite possible a false name) had failed attempts to smooth things over, but between his rude remarks and nasty attitude I knew that this place had to be a scam! Attention business owners, don’t ever trust or do business with these people!

  • Tom Hoehner

    We have just been given our 5th service fee by you people.

    It’s like the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and we are the camel and you just keep putting on straw.

    We are going to start charging people to use thier credit and debit cards, and though we are locked into a 3 year contract with you, I will give you so much bad publicity, that you will end up wishing you were out of the contract, as I wish now.

    Tom Hoehner

  • Starr E. Bell

    Watch out! These guys are professional cons. You will be sorry if you sign a contract with them. This has been a nightmare! They promised what I needed for our store – then wasn’t able to follow through. One Rep. even contacted another company and said she was me and gave them our account information. I have not been able to close this account and they steal money from our business banking account every month without sending statements. I have not been able to stop them – my bank said the only thing I can do is close our account. This would effect too many businesses that do withdrawals and deposits on our account daily – SNAP, Davenport (gasoline supplier, ATM, cigarette companies, and our distributors (Lays and Layman)
    Any suggestions or help please let me know. [email protected]

  • Rhonda Jones

    APEX Merchant Group is not a Scam; they actually have great commissions and a good pay structure. Initially I wasn’t sure about APEX, but once I started working for them, it was obvious that they knew how to help me in the field. When I first started, I did see some of the negative postings, but it’s been nothing but a good experience for me, I can’t speak for anyone else, It seems like they actually care about how they treat their customers and sales reps. I have nothing bad to say about them. Also, I love getting paid daily; I don’t have to wait a week like lots of other places I worked at. APEX makes it easy, fun and I love the way that I feel like I’m getting the best support possible from my Manager. I have written 48 deals with APEX and only had minor issues, and also I get a big bonus once I write my 75th deal, so I can’t wait for that. So many companies out there are full of it, I love the way that APEX does what they say they are going to do, and Last week I made $1,900! Love this job!

    • Mike Shaw

      Here is the problem with Companies like this. They pay their sales reps big money UPFRONT to sign accounts and little to no residuals. In the REAL ISO world, agents make the bulk of their earnings off monthly residuals. That means they have a vested interest in keeping their merchants happy. In the REAL processing world, it is all about customer retention and referrals. Not getting a $1,900 in commissions on overpriced leases and sign up fees.

      Rhonda, I highly suggest you research other ISOs and see all the money you are leaving on the table. If you had signed 48 not “deals” but loyal customers, you should be receiving about $2200 each month in residuals on top of any upfront monies. At 75 Loyal Customers (not deals) you should be getting close to $4,000 (unless they are all really small. But at 75 you are bound to stumble on some $50,000-$100,000 per month merchants). That is money you know is coming in before you write your first “deal” of the month.

      The key to success in this business is building long term relationships based on trust and support, not churn and burn. Companies like Apex are a burden to those of us that want to do it right because their army of inexperienced “deal getters” besmirches the industry.

  • Ray

    We signed up with APEX last November. The first clue that this was going to go wrong was when the sales agent told us that in Tennessee we could cancel our service at any time without a penalty, and the person from APEX told us that there WAS a penalty for cancelling early. At the end of the year we had to change banks due to the high fees the banks were charging. I called APEX and explained what I wanted to do. I was told to download a form, fill it out and FAX it to APEX. I followed the instructions to the letter, and all seemed well, until I got a call from APEX about the NEW account I wanted to set up. I told them it was not a new account and that I simply needed to change banks. I had to fill out more papers and FAX in to them because of “new regulations” I was told. I did what they told me and the funds started showing up in the NEW account. BUT, they did not close the old account and kept charging fees to it also even though no funds were being put into that account. I called APEX again and explained the problem and was told that I needed to FAX a cancellation notice to them and there would be a $30 fee for closing the account. So, we FAXED the notice, but the account was not closed. I was closing the bank account anyway, so that stopped the fees……. or so I thought. Last month we received a “final demand” from APEX, even though we had received NO other notices OR phone calls from them. The demand was for $702 for “early cancellation fees”.
    I called them again and was told they had no record of me FAXING in a cancellation request. I wound up talking to someone in the collections department, who was very rude to me. After I explained the whole situation to her, she agreed to look into it and call me back. I gave her my cell phone number, she NEVER called back. My wife called again the following day and left a message requesting a call. The call never came.
    So, yesterday we were checking or transactions and discovered a $116 transaction from APEX. Taking money OUT of our account!!. So I called again and was told again that they had “attempted” to contact us but we couldn’t be reached. The debit to our account was ONE day after we spoke to them about the error.

    I am waiting on their call back tomorrow, and, after that I am filing a complaint with the BBB and the TN attorney Generals office, and If I can I am filing a suit for wire fraud and electronic theft of funds.

  • Eyaw

    I have been out and wasting all types a gas for this Apex merchant group, only to no avail make a sale. They sent me on bogus leads, when the owner may not be there or the business doesn,t even exist anymore lol.i tried to take it lightly but what really got me upset is that this company doesnt want to stick to. The bottom line, they basicly try and steal a sale from you, wanting you to call them when your in front a merxhant! When i finally had a merchant sit down and listen to me he was eager to switch, then i got my staff surt to gert on the phone with him …He basicly screwed the deal up rather than help me. After the phone call the merchant became spooked. What a effing waste a time and energy..and money on gas Damn!

  • Kevin

    I was laid off from my long time sales position and I figured I had nothing to lose
    while I looked for a career job in my industry, so I gave Apex a try.
    First of all the ‘pre-set appointments’ are for the most part bogus. Specifically
    speaking, I tracked how many appointments were legit ( since my time is valuable
    and they would make you call before each appt.), of 12 appointments only 4
    were 4 were good. The non-appts. were either no-shows or the merchant said
    they never made a appointment. One place I walked in and said to the owner
    I was here for the appt. and he became irate and starting yelling saying ‘who told
    me to come there and where is my card’. Anyways, after experiencing this I called
    in to a manager and was told ‘ well what really is an appt. anyways’. Are you kidding
    me? This is just double-talk to cover up from there lack of credibility.
    I have been successfully in sales for over ten years and my advice is stay away
    from this nonsense. Another fact that works against you is the fact that the last I
    checked they had a D rating from the Better Business Bureau, so when a prospect
    checks them out this is a red flag against your efforts. I did sell some – to vendors
    I know – but if you consider the energy, gas and stress- its not worth it.
    The one factor you have to consider as a salesman is the value of your time,
    and yes you might sell some but considering everything this is not worth it!
    Also, these jobs are a dime a dozen (they would hire anyone with a pulse, they
    have almost no investment in you, they only pay money when you make money
    for them). So if you want to give this a try there are much better companies.
    But the facts are the credit card business machine industry inundate merchants
    constantly so inherently businesses are tired of hearing the save money pitch
    – even if it’s valid. Kind the same as when long distance phone service was
    marketed in the ’80s. STAY AWAY!

  • Ashlie Childress

    I recently sent a resume to APEX and was contacted today about a position. I am glad I read all the complaints before sending my application with my personal information. Thank you for the comments I read, because this sounded too good to be true from the beginning. I will not be taking the position! Thanks for the information! –ashlie

  • Kevin Kennedy

    This processing company can not be trusted. I was contacted by one of their sales people and told that my credit card machine would no longer be usable and that I needed to upgrade to another type machine.

    They sent me one and set me up with a lease that was over $3,000.00 for the machine and when i researched the machine I found I could buy them brand new for $300.00

    When I called them to return this machine I was told that I would owe them over $2,500.00 and there was no way out of it.

  • Cheryl

    This company calls constantly. Sometimes they just hang up when we answer. Sometimes they ask for the owner and when we ask “what is this regarding?”, they hang up. I have no idea what they are trying to accomplish. We have never gotten that far before they hang up on us. I am going to block their number.

  • Morgan Sparks

    I have a very broad range of job skills, beginning with voluntary secretarial work at the age of 15, to owning my own small business by age 18. I have had management positions as well as a few more! I am an educated, personable, well-rounded individual with experience in sales as well! I was hired by Apex about one month ago and have yet to make a sale.

    Their so-called pre-qualified appointments are not appointments at all. I’ve actually had better responses from the business owners I met going door-to-door myself, independently from my “sales manager.” I am given 3-4 appointments a day, after a couple weeks of wasting my time and gas I began calling these businesses BEFORE I show up for an appointment. The business owners are either not present, not interested, or explicitly told Apex they did not want to schedule an appointment! I’ve been sent to businesses that were closed or even out of business, one such business had been closed for over a year!

    If I continue to have these kind of experiences with Apex I will have to find another job within weeks!

  • Frank

    I am a merchant and signed up with Apex Merchant group to process my credit card transactions.
    The salesman for this company flat out lied to me about the rate and the fees I would be charged.
    I am trying to get my money back and then get out from any dealings with these people.

    • Chrys Manos

      I’m a victim as well. I’m here in Las Vegas and finally had to close my business account to keep them from withdrawing any more than the $400 they already stole from me. Now they’re coming after me for collections to the sum of $500 plus!!

      I’m going to contact the Texas Attorney General and perhaps the TX US Attorneys office tomorrow. I’d like to pursue this if anyone is interested in joining me.

      • Dana

        Something needs to be done about this company. After contracts were done and signed with this company none of the rates that were on the contract were applied. Called and got a copy of our contract to compare our copy of what we have and everything was changed on our contract. Very clear that pages 2 and 3 were changed. All the rates were different. This is Fraud and something needs to be done with this company!!

        • Jackie

          Let me know….I will be there with you. I have phone numbers, contact from the Corp Office and Fax numbers to help with your case. NO MORE APEX! This is ridiculous I mean and nothing has happened yet!!!

          • Janet

            Let me know if everyone wants to bring a class action suit against these turkeys. I am fed up with their lieing and cheating. Why they are allowed to be in business if beyond me. The are a prime example of American Greed.

      • Manav Puri

        I was approached by Apex Merchant group’s District Sales Adviser Vincenzo Fallani In Hemet California. I discussed all the fees and charges with him . First this guy wasn’t even had the knowledge of what he was talking about and spoke to his supervisor at least 20 times before we finally signed the contract.

        Now i signed the contract with this company where i leased a check scanner machine which was to be leased by Merimac Capitol . I finalized the price of machine at 240 dollars . I agreed on 20 dollars a month till i pay off the machine or else i will continue to pay 20 dollars a month. I made sales adviser write on the contract in his handwriting that customer will pay off the machine at 240 dollars and when he pays off the machine there will be no 20 dollar charges after that on the lease.

        after few weeks i decided to just pay 240 dollars and own the machine so i callled Apex Group and i was diverted to Merimac capitol where i was told that to pay off machine i have to pay 20+4 dollars for remaining 59 month to own the machine . I was taken aback and asked them to check the contract sheet. To my disbelief the contarct sheet they they had no information whatsoever of what sales adviser had written on paper and it was missing other informations too. I facxed my copy to Merimac and they said they cant dso anything but i have to pay.

        So in order to make the sale this agent or someone in leasing company forged the whole contratc sheet and now i ma being forced to pay the amount that i never committed for.

        Apart from this i was told that Apex will use my existing ,machine to process credit debit card payments but instead sent me a new machine without pin pad and forced me to pay for it .

        I cancelled all my contract with these guys returned their equipment in 15 days but now they are putting collections on my business for breaking the lease and early termination charges even they forged the documents , change lease terms and are trying to extort money from me.

        I need advise as what should i do.

        STAY AWAY FROM APEX < MERIMAC < FIRST AMERICAN PAYMENT SYSTEMS

  • Jeffery Herring

    I was an Agent with Apex for 1 month before I realized how unscrupulous they are as a company. They charge-back agents accounts (even though they say they don’t) if client cancels, and they do cancel quickly, after they are hit with eccessive upfront charges not disclosed. They willful mislead agents to accomplish this goal. Therefore, binding clients to contracts. I admit I did not perform due deligence before signing on with them. My repretation is flawed. This has been a nightmare for me and my clients. Please stay away!…Jeff

  • Ultimate Art Form

    This company called us and insisted on talking to the owner. They first asked for the previous owner so their files are out dated. When the man who called was told that the owner was unavailable he got very rude. He was told the owner’s calls are all screened. He got angry and said I couldn’t make him tell me what he wanted. When we tried to call back they do NOT answer their phones. AVOID DOING BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE THEY ARE A SCAM!!!

  • B.W.

    BEWARE *** This company charged my account $424 because of “non returned equpment” that I have the tracking information proving that they received. They are claiming that all the equipment was not there, but it was!!! We never recieved a copy of our contract to review and be allowed to cancel within the 30 day mark, we are well past the 30 days and now they say they have to put a request in to see if they are even allowed to give me a copy of the contract.

  • Monica

    The whole buisness is a bogus. They clam to have preset appointments for sales representatives then you go out there and no appointment has been made. One appointment I went to the owner had no idea I was coming to see them. On another occasion the owner of the buisness was not even there and no appointment had been made. I wasted one whole week of gas driving around like crazy and the team coordinator kept sending me on bogus appointments that didnt even exist. They say they reverify appointments with the buisness owners and thats a bunch of crap. They need to shut this lousy buisness down. What a waste of people time and energy working for a bogus buisness like this.

  • Gregg

    We are having trouble collecting our credit card money on large swipe/transactions. The customer has his product, APEX gets their fees, but we did not get our money. That is the reason we left our old merchant account, is to stop this hassle. Our sales guy told us everything that we wanted to hear. now, fast forward a few months, our sales rep has left the company and the staff at APEX said what he told us was not accurate. We are changing merchant accounts. I would rather pay a little higher rate, than to deal with the hell we have been through. Gregg

  • business

    They simply move people around and start new companies to get new reps merchants and BBB ratings after the other companies have a black eye. As a matter of fact alot of merchants switch to one of the other companies after getting upset with the current one and don’t realize they fall under the umbrella simply switching to the same company with a different name.

Tell Us How They Treated You

Sharing your experience influences our rating and helps other business owners make informed decisions. Promotional content and contact information will not be published. Please provide a detailed summary of your experience.

Copyright

Copyright © 2024 CardPaymentOptions.com, Inc. (Digital Fingerprint: 0d38c6720f0d78a701b74d58653af608). Getting paid to re-write this page? Click here to earn a reward.

Any unauthorized copying and reproduction of the content of this page, including all meta data and computer code, is strictly prohibited. While the information in the above article is believed to be accurate as of its publish date, the author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of this material, which is provided “as is,” and without warranties. Any and all use of trade names and/or marks are for identification purposes only and shall not be construed as a claim of affiliation, or otherwise, with CardPaymentOptions.com, Inc. ("CPO") in any form. The sole purpose of the material presented herein is to alert, educate, and inform readers. It is not intended as legal or financial advice. We may earn revenue if you obtain services from a provider that we recommend. See this page to learn how we support our operations.